Photo Gallery 2005 Fiji 3
Very early this morning I kayaked, camera in hand, a short ways up the mouth of a freshwater river that empties into our bay. It was lined and overhung with mangrove trees and felt like the jungle cruise at Disneyland without the crowds. Then Mike, Anouk and I went into the village and donated a few dollars to take a walk on the island and climb one of the hills to a lookout point. Except for swimming, there are not a lot of exercise opportunities aboard a sailboat, so we make a point of hiking when we can.
The village women have cleared and marked a walking path as a fund-raiser for the village, as they hope to build their own school one day. For now their children go to the neighboring village for primary school (through 8th grade). High school is on the mainland in Suva, so the children leave home when the time comes and either live with relatives in Suva or stay at a boarding school, returning home on weekends. We were led part way on the walk by our guide Ben, machete in hand, who was on his way to work his garden which turned out to be quite a trek from the village, involving wading a shallow river, navigating a rocky beach, and then climbing a steep overgrown path up the hills through thick undergrowth. This area on the southeast side of Fiji is much more lush and overgrown than the west side, the consequence of substantially more rainfall.
The walk was steep and hot, and when we got back after a couple of hours we were happy to jump into the water just to cool off, take a quick shower on the swim step, and then motor further around Beqa Island to our current anchorage. This is another beautiful bay, large and well-protected, and lined on all sides with mangroves. The village is a bit odd – Rod commented that when he was here a couple of years ago the chief just said thanks for the kava and forget the sevusevu. Yesterday after our arrival we went ashore, following etiquette, and received much the same response from the first villager we met who basically said enjoy yourselves, no problem, sevusevu not necessary. We left our gift of kava root with him to give to the chief, just in case, and returned to the boat for a relaxing afternoon and an absolutely sensational feast of Indian cuisine which Anouk produced as a thank you for including her in yesterday’s Shark Dive.